At Morgan Creek Today

The water level is starting to drop but there was still plenty flowing by to make for an OK stream watch snapshot.  I was joined for a bit by my friend Eric and his dog Willow.  Once she got restless they took off and left me in quiet solitude to finish the task.

I did not see the variety or number of critters I sometimes find, but there were still things to look at.  Loads of crawdads big and small.  Dragonfly larvae; slow moving, shield shaped, they remind me of little tanks.   A salamander, still breathing through gills, less than an inch long, almost translucent.  Small fish, big tadpole, lots and lots of wiggly caddisflies.

Many damselflies were in the air but I did not find their slender fairly-like larvae in the water.  With jet black wings and neon blue bodies I love to watch them dancing and flitting together above the stream.

Once I had finished my "work", I waded up stream in search of a spot deep enough to lie down in.  I heard something moving on the bank ahead of me and looked up in time to see a coyote staring back at me.  We met eyes for a moment and then he turned tail and trotted off in the other direction.  I found a hole thigh deep and lay down to float for a few minutes, get that deep cool way down into my flesh.

Post dip selfie

When the horseflies found me and started to bite, I headed home to chill in the AC.
I wish you all a very happy solstice.

Mountain Vacation

Cave Mountain Lake, view from the dam looking towards the beach

Sorry for my absence but we've been on vacay. Spent 5 days and 4 nights in a delightful little campground called Cave Mountain Lake. Since we arrived on Monday night, there was almost no one there and we had this phenomenally beautiful, clear, cool lake all to ourselves. We couldn't believe it, it was almost spooky. What a refreshing treat after weeks in the 90's down here in the low lands, it was humid there but the highs were in the low 80's and at night it cooled off enough to put on long pants. A sweet little stream burbled past our campsite serenading us each night.

Classic smoky mountain view from the AT in the James River Face Wilderness

We took several hikes that tested our metal- I forgot that hiking in the Appalachians is a pretty much up and down affair, but we were proud of ourselves for still having what it takes, at least for a few miles with only a day pack, actual backpacking might be out of the question anymore, at least in that terrain.

This last picture pretty much says it all, me blissing out on my back in the calm, cool water, taking in the sky and clouds, chillin'. I'd give anything to have a lake like this near my house.

Swimming on a Rainy Day

I'm so glad I like swimming, especially on days like today, 46 degrees and rainy. I just got in from a delightful swim at our brand new Homestead Aquatic Center. It is a fantastic facility with two pools, one cooler for laps and one shallow and warmer for kids to play. Everything is new and clean and you can still smell the fresh paint. At one end is a glass wall with a view out into the trees and there are tall skinny windows along another wall. The roof is angled and rests on 6 foot high, blond wooden beams. I had a lane all to myself and swam for almost an hour, what luxury. Afterwards I lolled around in the warm pool for a bit. I missed the steam room and better showers of the YMCA, but now I'm going to have to make a decision about which place I want to hang my towel in the future, the new pool is a little closer to home, the cooler water is far better for lap swimming and the design and light in the space is very appealing.

I've been meaning to post this photo from Saturday of the first flower opening on my Prunus Mume tree, you gotta love something that blooms in January. And I'm also tickled to see these fat buds on the hellebore, they will open soon and be in bloom right into the middle of spring.

I'm so grateful to have things like this in the garden that bring color to grey winter days.

Kayak Bliss

We took our kayaks out on Jordan Lake this morning for the first time since I can't remember when. Last year it got so hot and the lake got so low and skanky that we just stopped going. Well it isn't low anymore, there was hardly a space to launch the boats today the water level was so high. Where there is normally a wide sandy beach there was just enough room on the walkway to slip our two boats in side by side over the sand.

As always it was stunning out there. In the early morning light with hardly another boat on the lake, the water was placid, the air was cool and the sky was bright and clear. The tops of the big pine trees along the shore were brushy with new needles and yellow candles, sharp against the blue sky. I was wearing yellowish glasses that rendered the new leaves on the trees an electric chartreuse.

Yellow throated warblers were singing their "sweet, sweet, little more sweet" song from the tops of all those pines but we saw nary a one despite our searching. We did get a great look at a red-headed woodpecker and saw the usual raft of cormorants, ring-billed gulls, a couple of osprey and a dozen great blue herons. Eagles evaded us this time out but I know they're still there.

We like to paddle the boats back into a cove and just drift, looking up into the trees and willows. Good thing we didn't need to get out of the boats as there was no beach to pull out on anywhere.

We paddled about an hour and a half and then loaded up and headed home. It's a process, loading the boats, driving to the lake, unloading, paddling, reloading, coming home and unloading again! Probably about 2 hours in loading and driving each time but its worth it to be out there on the water.

I love to swim and I feel that way about the swimming too. Got to drive to the pool, change, swim, shower, dress and drive back home, but it's worth it to get that aqua therapy. In fact- anything I do that gets me next to water is worth whatever it takes because the water so feeds my soul.